Newsletter

Public safety summary

Ross

Courtesy of Michelle Gavin

The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office Explorer Post 876 received first place in the cell extraction competition Monday for Summerfest 2012 at the Savannah Civic Center. Leading the team is Explorer Mary Margaret Tarsitano.

A detective in the Savannah-Chatham police department’s Southside Precinct was named the first Outstanding Officer of the Quarter by a ballot of his co-workers.

Detective Christopher Ross was selected for the honor for the second quarter, April through June, after nomination by his sergeant and voting by all members of the precinct, said metro police spokesman Julian Miller.

Ross, 39, is married and has six children. He joined metro in 2009 after serving as a law enforcement officer in North Carolina since 1997.

Miller said Ross was singled out for the honor particularly for his work on two long-term burglary investigations.

One investigation involving several residential burglaries in the Davidson Avenue area led to the arrests of three men and two juveniles, Miller said. He added that Ross also led the effort in a six-month investigation of commercial burglaries in the Commercial Drive, Waters Avenue and Abercorn Street corridors that led to charges against a 14-year-old for three burglaries and five theft-by-receiving cases.

The investigations led to the recovery of two stolen firearms, several game consoles, a pellet gun modified to resemble an AK-47 rifle and other stolen items, as well as shut down a ring that was selling stolen items using social networking websites, Miller said.

Savannah Fire & Emergency Services spokesman Mark Keller said a mattress caught on fire, and that the wall of the bedroom had some fire damage.

“There was smoke damage throughout the room, and some water damage,” Keller said. “But the fire was limited to just the mattress.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, he said.

Explorers compete at Summerfest 2012

Chatham County Sheriff’s Office Explorer Post 876 competed with several other Explorer posts from the Southeast in law enforcement competitions Monday morning at Summerfest 2012 in the Savannah Civic Center.

The CCSO Explorers are 14- to 18-year-olds who represent several high schools in the county.

CCSO Explorers placed first in the cell extraction competition and third place in the felony traffic stop, accident investigation and room search competitions. CCSO Explorer Andrea Stokes placed first in the EMT trauma assessment individual competition, and 10 Explorers from the post competed all together, said sheriff’s office spokeswoman Michelle Gavin.

Several local law enforcement agencies served as evaluators and role players for the competitions, including the sheriff’s office, Savannah-Chatham police, Georgia State Patrol, the U.S. Marshal Service and the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Gavin said the department revamped the Explorer program a year ago and did not compete in last year’s Summerfest.

“They put in a lot of hard work over the past year,” she said. “When they found out they won first place in one of the competitions, they were so excited. ... All the hard work and training we’ve put into this new group of Explorers has been well worth it.”

The teams didn’t find out which competitions they would be competing in until Monday, Gavin said, which means they had to practice for them all.

“We normally meet two nights a month during the school year, and during the summer we’ve been meeting twice a week getting ready for this competition,” she said.

Evacuation re-entry hotline established

The Chatham Emergency Management Agency has a new telephone line for residents seeking information regarding re-entry into Chatham County when they evacuate due to a hurricane.

The toll-free CEMA re-entry hotline number is 855-880-2362.

A news release from the agency referred to the re-entry hotline as a valuable communication tool for residents who evacuate to seek shelter outside of Chatham County.

The line will not be used for the dissemination of storm information, damage reports and other disaster information — just re-entry information.

CEMA asks residents to program the number into their phones and include it in evacuation preparations.